The game has always been statistically accurate. How much more accurate is the current version compared with the first version in 1987?
It’s both more accurate and more realistic than earlier versions. Accuracy is measured by the relationship between computer-generated stats and real-life stats. If a pitcher walked 78 batters and struck out 123 in 200 real-life innings, an accurate game would produce similar totals if the pitcher also threw 200 innings in the computer season and was used in a similar fashion (same role, same home park, same quality of opposition, and so on). Over the years, we’ve learned a few things that have enabled us to fine-tune many aspects of the simulation. But the first version was already very accurate, and the gap between version 1 and 9 is not large. Realism has to do with incorporating as many aspects of real-life baseball as possible — left/right splits, park effects, weather effects, ground-ball/fly-ball ratios, wild plays, and so on. If you design a very simplistic model that leaves these things out, you can do ok with statistical accuracy even though the game is not a very realistic s
